imagine a diamond and at each point there is a bag or base. the right side is 1st, then 2nd, 3rd, then 4th which is home base.
at home there is a catcher squatting behind the bag
In front of him there is a mound of dirt and a pitcher stands on it, capable of throwing a hard ball about the size of one's palm at sometimes 100+
there is a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop who stands between 2nd and 3rd base and a 3rd baseman.
then there is an outfield-a person is right fielder who stands behind 1st and 2nd or between them in the field.
the center is behind 2nd and between left and right and then left is between 2nd and 3rd base.
the object is for the pitcher to take cues form his catcher and throw the ball( pitch) in the strike zone (the ball must cross the plate or home base which is kind of like a three sided square and a half triangle cap, and be between the batter's chest and knees).
Now the batter is the opposing team and they are sequenced in a lineup, chosed by their coach--who decideds how to rotate the power hitters with the lighter hitters.
Okay, so each batter has an opportunity to hit the ball and the pitcher tries to mix up how he throws the ball each time. There are three strikes, which are when the batter swings and misses, when the batter doesn't swing and the ball is in the strikezone, and when the batter has hit the ball more than twice as a foul, which is when the ball is hit to the left side of a chalked line that ruusn up left field or the right side of a chalk line that runs up right field. There are also things called bunts, when the batter taps the ball so it kind of lands betweent he pitcher and catcher (hard for the pitcher to get off the mound to get it and hard for the catcher to get up and get it before the batter makes it to 1st base.)
Batters cannot slide into the first base, but they can overrun it as long as they do not turn toward 2nd. If they turn they can be tged out by the 1st baseman if he has the ball and steps on the bag. All the other bases--youo can slide into but not overrun, except home plate. If you want to take a step off the bag to run ahead after the pitcher has thrown the ball-you can, but you have ot step on the bag and then run first or else the catcher could throw to that baseman and they could step on the bag and tag oyu out.
The way a ball is hit defines how easy it is to get the batter out too. There are fly balls-hard hit solid balls hard to catch, and then ther are pop uops that are caused when the batter actually hits the ball belwo instead of hea don and when caught the batter is automatically out--if runners have left the bags with a pop up they can be called out if whomever catches the ball passes to the baseman where they left the bag and they get tagged out, and there are grounders, which are balls that end up bouncing along the grond--also hard to grab. There is also a thing called a balk, but I cannot remember what that is right now--did I forget anything all you fans out there/

I don't know about Ireland but Baseball is totally unknown for Greeks...:).. (I still can't understand the rules...). I guess that after football, cricket, rugby and Gaelic football, Irish maybe don't show any interest about other sports....

The three great American Sports are Football, Baseball and Basketball. Football is our Spartan game of war. It takes place on a field, has flanking manuevers and a set time. Baseball is our game of peace. It takes place on a ball park, is a very intellectual sport and time is not a factor. Each pitch in baseball has a situation and the coach's decisions are pivital in the game It is similair to cricket only that a bat and ball are used and the pitcher has several different deliveries to fool a batter. Basketball is art - an acapella ballet, yet Basketball may be the most rugged non-contact sport invented.

Football is the most popular American Sport in the United States per TV ratings. It does not translate to other countries which is as baffling to Americans as why soccer does not do well in the United States to Europeans. So far, NFL Europe is a bust--although the product (the actual play) is pretty good at times.

Baseball is the American Pastime. The Sport is popular in Japan and Taiwan. Lately these two countries have dominated the Little League Word Series and many Japanese, Austrailian (to lesser numbers) and Latin American players are in the Major Leagues.

Basketball is very popular around the world and many great Eastern Europeans play in the National Basketball Association. Yo Ming, of China, may be the most dominant big man in the league. Basketball is the most popular American sport export but, ironically, it is a distant third to Football and Baseball in popularity in the United States. March Madness, the championship of College level basketball has more fans than the NBA. The NBA is counting on this years final (Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers) to regain former fans. This may be the biggest rivalry in the NBA and brings back nostalgia of the Larry Bird and Magic Johnson series.